Mest - Wasting Time
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Music CD Cover
Artist: MestEdition: Music CD
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 2000-07-18
Music Label: Maverick
Soundtracks:
- Long Days Long Nights
- Hotel Room
- What's the Dillio?
- Slow Motion
- Drawing Board
- Change
- Forget You
- Electric Baby
- Girl for Tonight
- Lonely Days
- Richard Marxism
- Random Arrival
- The Last Time
- Wasting My Time
Free Music Notes for Wasting Time
Free Music Review: One of the finest Chicago has ever produced
Hit: 5 Stars
The year 2000 was a turning point for pop-punk. After reigniting and revolutionizing the sound in the mid-'90s, the genre's most famous band, Green Day, in Y2K released "Warning," a noted departure from the tried and true sound layed down on albums like "Dookie," "Insomniac," and the album's predecessor, "Nimrod." Though not without its strengths, "Warning" featured more mellow and relaxed arrangements that leaned increasingly toward alternative.
Just when it seemed that the release of this album might signal a death note for the up until then increasingly popular pop-punk genre, along came a new crop of young bands who were just kids in 1994 when Green Day released "Dookie," an album that forever changed their lives and inspired them to create similar sounds of their own.
One such band was the pride of Blue Island, Illinois (a close south suburb of Chicago), Mest. Although the band had released one album independently prior to this, "Wasting Time" was their major label debut on Maverick and was for my money their finest moment.
From the opener "Long Days Long Nights," it is clear this band is full of youthful energy and drive. It never lets up from there. This album is just great! This song serves to set the tone with its high speed, ultra-catchy and melodic delivery.
Frontman Tony Lovato is a truly talented individual and often the star of the show with his super memorable and distinctive delivery, but every member of the band turns in a stellar performance. The production is great as well and always comes through clear as a bell.
This album predates the breakthrough of bands that would go on to become bigger sellers than Mest like Sum 41, Simple Plan, and Mest's buddies, Good Charlotte, by a good year of two. While all three bands mentioned are great and warranted the success they received, Mest are every bit as good.
On the faster moments, the band is somewhat reminiscent of vintage Blink-182 (think "Dude Ranch"). Green Day's "Nimrod" seems to be another big influence, as the acoustic guitar that opens standout track "Drawing Board" is somewhat reminiscent of Billie Joe Armstrong's in "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)." (As a sidenote, the band would later remake the song on "Wasting Time's" 2001 follow-up, "Destination Unknown," but the original version is stronger and didn't really warrant a remake.)
Similar to the Clash before them, the band sometimes experiments with reggae-ish tempos on slower tracks like "Change," and it definitely works well for them.
Two of my favorite tracks though come at the very end, with "Random Arrival," which includes the very memorable and very true line, "It doesn't matter if you're black or white." Immediately following that is "The Last Time," which features a great chorus that should have made it a radio hit in league with songs like Green Day's "Basket Case" or Blink-182's "All The Small Things."
All in all, 46 minutes and 14 tracks with not one stinker in the bunch.
As these guys have since broken up, I find myself revisiting their albums time and time again (though with "Photographs" I mainly just view the bonus DVD) to keep the feeling alive. Hopefully all their Maverick discs will stay in print for many years to come, giving a new generation of fans a chance to hear the pop-punk brilliance of Mest. One of my favorites.
Wasting Time Poster
Mest hail from Chicago but their hearts are in the Southern California-style punk made famous by Green Day and Goldfinger. (In fact, this release was produced by Goldfinger's John Feldmann, who also encouraged the band to record their first demo tape.) The result sounds too much like their influences. Though solid and crunchy, the songs on Wasting Time, Mest's major-label debut, mostly come across as anonymous-sounding anthems for the hyperactive skateboard set. However, there are a couple of moments when the band proves that there's muscle beneath the mush. The hilariously titled "Richard Marxism" sears, cajoles, and busts out with a hook as big as a Blink 182 single. "Drawing Board" has the same vibe, with the overdubbed harmonies of frontman Tony Lavato adding a necessary melancholic twinge to the tune. Still, this one's for die-hard power-pop fans only. --Jason JosephesAlternative Rock Music CDs
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